Jim Boeheim Postgame Transcript: Wake Forest
Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim spoke to the media following the Orange's 77-74 loss at Wake Forest.
OPENING STATEMENT
Boeheim: "It hurts losing Jesse early like that. A couple of fouls he just can't commit. One of them I don't think he did foul, but a couple of them you just can't reach in and be involved in that play. We need him in the game. I thought when he went out, I thought everybody pulled together. I thought we did a great job defensively without him in there. We gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game. You gotta get the ball inbounds with 11 seconds to go. If you can't do that, it's a problem. They're a really good team. We did a really good job of getting on their shooters in the second half and making it difficult for them to get open shots. Certainly played well enough to win, but we have to get the ball inbounds at the end of the game. That's it."
Q: You had to inbound not once but twice. Since it's at the other end of the floor, are you able to call a play?
Boeheim: "We have a line off that. The same thing we used the first time to get it in. The same stack, same line. We gotta get the ball inbounds there. I couldn't see, I don't know what happened. I couldn't see it. But we've got to get the ball inbounds there."
Q: What went wrong offensively in overtime for you guys?
Boeheim: "We just didn't score. We got some shots. Benny got a wide open shot, we got Joe one, Buddy got in the lane, they made a couple good defensive plays. We just couldn't finish."
Q: Buddy's struggled to make shots the last two games. Are you satisfied with the types of shots he's getting?
Boeheim: "He's the only one that's getting shots. If he doesn't go and get shots we don't get them. That's the problem. He's taking tough shots. They're really tough shots. Cole's got to be a little more aggressive offensively. Jesse's big part of what we can do out there, so we need him in the game for that. We're doing enough to win both these games and we just can't quite get there. Wake Forest is really good. I thought we played well. I thought we did a lot of good things. We got a couple good open looks late and in the overtime. I think we got Joe a couple good looks, Buddy got him a good look. But somebody's got to score. I think Buddy feels, and I think he does, have to go and try to make plays. You're going to miss shots, that's part of the game."
Q: How would you assess the center position's play after Jesse fouled out?
Boeheim: "I thought we did a decent job. They tried to get it inside and they did. They were trying to do that, they got a couple turnovers there. We got a couple deflections in there. They're not looking to shoot threes because they're trying to get it in there. I'd rather have them trying to get tough twos than shoot threes. I thought overall we were OK defensively going small. It gives us a little advantage on the other end that they have to cover Jimmy with a bigger guy. He got a couple buckets getting to the basket, hit a three, open look. It gives us a little advantage sometimes on the offensive end. In that situation, I'm disappointed that Benny can't get back in there and rebound and help us defensively. I thought on the offensive boards I thought there were some opportunities he could've gone to the offensive boards and gotten some opportunities. But he's learning. We've just got to keep working with him."
Q: Did you give any thought to putting Frank (Anselem) back in and going big for the last 10-11 seconds?
Boeheim: "We played better with the small lineup. Frank had been not involved. He didn't rebound, he was just standing there a couple plays. We had that unit in there and they were pretty good. So I had no thought whatsoever of going back with Frank at that time. I wanted to try to pinch a little bit more than we did from Benny's side and we just didn't do that very well. No, I had no thought of that."
